NFL Commish Makes $29.5 Mil a Year– 15 Times More Than Tax Free Org Gives to Charity, More than CEOs of Ford, Heinz, FedEx

As the Super Bowl approaches New York much like a blizzard, here are some things to think about: in 2012, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $29.5 million to run the organization. And that’s not all. The NFL, if you didn’t realize it, exists as a 501 c 6 organization. It’s not for profit!

In order to have that status, the NFL must be run as a charitable foundation. In 2012, they gave away a meager $2.3 million. Almost all of it–$2.1 million– went to the NFL Hall of Fame.

Goodell made 15 times what the group donated to other charities.

More crazy: Goodell’s salary is 1/10th of what the NFL claimed in total assets for 2012– $255 million.

Or even crazier: the NFL only made charitable donations equaling one-one hundredth of their annual income.

Here are the stats: The NFL’s most recent Form 990 filed with the IRS ended on March 31, 2012. They claimed revenue of $255 million, up from $240 million in 2011. So, if you were concerned, things are good. The NFL has assets of over $822 million.

Under “grants”– meaning donations to other non profit organizations, the NFL did increase the number from just over $900,000 to $2.3 million. Generous right? However: their total salaries increased by $27 million to a total of over $107 million.

Here’s the best part: after all that, thanks to creative thinking, the NFL claims it finished the year in the red with negative $316 million.

What else did they spend money on? Well, for one thing, new office construction cost $36 million. That’s thirty six million dollars.

Just to put all this in perspective: going by numbers in Forbes, Goodell would come in at around number 28 of the highest paid CEOs in 2012. He made more than the heads of FedEx, AT&T, Heinz, Ford Motors, Goldman Sachs, as well as Rupert Murdoch.

Remember– they’re for profit, not tax free foundations.

And if you’re wondering, neither Major League Baseball nor the National Basketball Association is registered as a charity, foundation or trade organization. They each gave up their tax- free status years ago.

NFL Commish Makes $29.5 Mil a Year– 15 Times More Than Tax Free Org Gives to Charity, More than CEOs of Ford, Heinz, FedEx

As the Super Bowl approaches New York much like a blizzard, here are some things to think about: in 2012, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $29.5 million to run the organization. And that’s not all. The NFL, if you didn’t realize it, exists as a 501 c 6 organization. It’s not for profit!

In order to have that status, the NFL must be run as a charitable foundation. In 2012, they gave away a meager $2.3 million. Almost all of it–$2.1 million– went to the NFL Hall of Fame.

Goodell made 15 times what the group donated to other charities.

More crazy: Goodell’s salary is 1/10th of what the NFL claimed in total assets for 2012– $255 million.

Or even crazier: the NFL only made charitable donations equaling one-one hundredth of their annual income.

Here are the stats: The NFL’s most recent Form 990 filed with the IRS ended on March 31, 2012. They claimed revenue of $255 million, up from $240 million in 2011. So, if you were concerned, things are good. The NFL has assets of over $822 million.

Under “grants”– meaning donations to other non profit organizations, the NFL did increase the number from just over $900,000 to $2.3 million. Generous right? However: their total salaries increased by $27 million to a total of over $107 million.

Here’s the best part: after all that, thanks to creative thinking, the NFL claims it finished the year in the red with negative $316 million.

What else did they spend money on? Well, for one thing, new office construction cost $36 million. That’s thirty six million dollars.

Just to put all this in perspective: going by numbers in Forbes, Goodell would come in at around number 28 of the highest paid CEOs in 2012. He made more than the heads of FedEx, AT&T, Heinz, Ford Motors, Goldman Sachs, as well as Rupert Murdoch.

Remember– they’re for profit, not tax free foundations.

And if you’re wondering, neither Major League Baseball nor the National Basketball Association is registered as a charity, foundation or trade organization. They each gave up their tax- free status years ago.

Umm - no - I am saying the NFL should not be able to avoid tax liability for its operations

I am no fan of Komen For The Cure once it turned hard right after former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel came on board, but at least Komen purports to be involved in raising funds which primarily go to other groups.

In 2011, the foundation spent 15 percent, or $63 million, of its donations on research awards that fund studies on everything from hard-core molecular biology to the quality of breast-cancer care for Medicaid patients....

That proportion was down from 17 percent in 2009 and 2010. In 2008, that percentage reached 29 percent of donations. The annual financial statements cover April 1 through March 31.

Komen reports spending a total of $685 million for research in the past 30 years, a considerable sum in private cancer philanthropy, and its money goes to a wide variety of initiatives.

"In 2011, 83 cents of every dollar spent went to mission programs," spokeswoman Leslie Aun said in an email statement to Reuters. "We're the only organization doing breast cancer on all these fronts - in research, global work, advocacy and community work."

The organization's 2011 financial statement reports that 43 percent of donations were spent on education, 18 percent on fund-raising and administration, 15 percent on research awards and grants, 12 percent on screening and 5 percent on treatment. (Various other items accounted for the rest.).

The author of the previous linked piece called the NFL a charity - it actually has tax exempt status a trade or industry association under section 501(c)(6) of the IRC, not tax exempt status as a charitable organization under 501(c)(3) of the IRC. I do not care if the NFL is tax exempt under under any statute - it is a very profitable business that has no legitimate grounds (only than lobbying muscle with Congress) to achieve tax exemption; at least one Senator agrees with me.